Born in Recife in 1899 into a family of artists, Vicente de Rego Monteiro arrived in France in 1911. Guided by his sister, also a painter, he attended the Julian and Colarossi academies as well as the Grande Chaumière in Paris. A precocious talent, he participated in the 1913 Salon des Indépendants among the members of the École de Paris. This led him to meet some of its most brilliant representatives, such as Picasso, Léger, Modigliani, Metzinger, Braque, and Miró. Returning to Brazil due to the Great War, he exhibited in São Paulo in 1918 and met artists like Di Cavalcanti. He returned to Paris around 1920 and devoted over ten years to painting, building a significant body of modernist works recognized and appreciated by his contemporaries. His European exile did not prevent him from continuing to exhibit in Brazil, notably in 1922 during the Semana de Arte Moderna in São Paulo.

His art is characterized by a blend of indigenous South American cultural themes with a European modernist aesthetic. The artist incorporates the codes of Art Deco and Cubist styles, which he transcribes into his paintings, marked by a sobriety of forms and an economy of colors. However, he chooses popular subjects rooted in the strongly ingrained values of his South American heritage: religion, craftsmanship, and rural life. His work shows a clear influence from Fernand Léger, particularly in the treatment of figures, as well as a reference to his research on pre-Columbian Marajoara ceramics.

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